Electric light fixture



April 18, 1933- H. w. LAWRENCE 1,904,901

ELECTRIC LIGHT FIXTURE Filed April 4, 1951 Patented Apr. 18, 1933 PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY W. LAWRENCE, OF DENVER, COLORADO ELECTRIC LIGHT FIXTURE Application filed April 4, 1931.. Serial No. 527,?05, 1 I

Thisinvention relates to an electric light fixture'andhas for its principal object the provision of a fixture which will constantly produce, in addition to illumination, a brilliant, scintillating, iridescent effect.

Another object of the invention is to provide means, in a fixture containing faceted jewels, for throwing light through the jewels at a multitude of constantly varying angles so as to cause the jewels to produce a con tinuous sparkling effect.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of the invention which is 16 designed for simplicity, economy, and effieiency. These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention reference is had to the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. Like numerals refer to like parts in all views of the drawing and throughout the description.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partially in section, of an electric light fixture in which the invention is embodied.

Fig. 2 is a similar view illustrating an alternative design of the fixture.

Fig. 3 is a detail section illustrating the method of holding the lenses in place.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section, taken on the line 44, Fig. 1.

' The basic principle involved in this invention is to create a flashing, sparkling, scintillating effect in faceted jewels or lenses by constantly moving a light source positioned at the rear of the lenses. This principle is described more in detail in applicants co-pending application Serial No.

Fixtures embodying this principle can be made in various designs to obtain the desired effects; However, the outer casing of the fixture carrying the, faceted lenses should always be positioned about a rotating element carrying electric lamps. Two methods for incorporating this construction in an electric light fixture are illustrated in the drawing.

. In the form illustrated in Fig. 1, a bowl 10 is provided which is perforated to receive a plurality of faceted lenses 11. The lenses 11 are formed with peripheral flanges 12 that prevent them from passing through the perforations in thebowl 10. They are preferably held in place by means of'an inner bowl 13 carrying perforations corresponding to the perforations in the bowl 10. The inner bowl 13 clamps the flanges 12 of the jewels against the inner face of the bowl 10 as shown in detail in Fig. 3.

A lamp supporting member 14 is arranged to rotate within the bowls in spaced relation thereto and carries a series of electric lamps 15. The lamp supporting member preferably comprises another smaller bowl or disk rotated in any desired manner. As illustrated, the lamp supporting member 14 is carried upon bracket arms 16 projecting from a motor shaft 17. The motor shaft is rotated by means of a relatively slow speed electric motor 18. The motor 18 may be carried in a motor bracket 19 which in turn. is suspended from the ceiling or other supporting structure by a standard 20. The bowl 10 is supported from the motor bracket 19 upon radially extending supporting arms 21. If desired, ornamental chains 22 may be em- 8 ployed to create the impression that the outer bowl 10 is supported thereby.

An indirectlighting effect can be obtained by positioning a series of reflectors 23 upon the bowl bracket arms 21 so that they will reflect light tothe ceiling from a series of illuminating globes 24.

It will be noted that inuse the light rays from the lamps 15 are projected through the lenses 11 at constantly varying angles. This constant variation of the incident angle causes various facets upon the jewels 11 to illuminate so as to create an animated, scintillating effect in each jewel.

If desired, the lamp supporting member 14 5 can be provided with a projecting flange or deflector 25 to stop the rays of light from the lamps 15 so that no moving shadows will be thrown upon the ceiling.

In the form of fixture illustrated in Fig.

2, the driving motor, indicated at 26, is mounted in a canopy 27 directly at the ceiling. A motor shaft 28 extends downwardly through a sleeve 29 to the fixture proper. A bowl 30 is supported directly from the sleeve 29 upon suitable bracket arms 31 and a lamp supporting rotor 32 is supported directly upon the lower extremity of the motor shaft 28. This form operates similarly to the previously described form, that is, the rotor 32 rotates a series of lamp bulbs 33 in the rear of a series of faceted jewels 34.

It can be readily seen that the invention will produce a striking ornamental efi'ect, particularly desirable for ballrooms, banquet halls, theatre lobbies, etc., but it is not of course, limited to these particular uses.

It is desired to call particular attention to the lamp supporting bowls or members 14 and 32. These serve a very important function in addition to carrying the lamps for they form a combined lamp support and reflector. The-outer faces of these lamp supporting members'act as reflecting surfaces to throw rearwardly projected light rays forwardly through the lenses 11 and 34. In this way they not only greatly increase the amount. oflight thrown through the lenses but they increase the'number of points from which the light is projected and thereby in crease the varying angles of the rays sothat the total result is to greatly increase the scin tillating, sparkling effect and the brilliancy thereof. g

In the drawing, the light supporting mern bers are shown directly connected to electric motors. It is, of course, understood that they may be connected by means of gears, belts, fri tion contacts and the like so as to produce the lamp supporting members.

The electrical connections to the lamps or motors have not been illustrated since the connecting of lamps is common knowledge and this can ,be done in any of the usual manners through collector lamps and brushes such as are always used when carrying cur- I rent to a rotating lamp. 'One method of carrying the current to the various lamp 50' bulbs is illustrated in applicants co-pending application, Serial No. 497,524.

.While a specific form of the improvement has been described and illustrated herein, it is desiredto be understood that the same may be varied, within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what i is claimed and desired secured by Letters Patent is 7 '1. An electric light fixture comprising: a perforated outer bowl; faceted lenses car= ried in the perforations of said outer bowl;

a lamp supportingbowl supported within said outer bowl and adapted to carry elecdesired speed of rotation of the 1 tric lamps; and means for rotating said lamp supporting bowl said latter bowl conforming in contour to'said outer bowl and actin said fiimps from escaping through the open side of said outer bowl.

2. An'electric light fixture comprising: a rigid vertical supporting member; arms extending radially outward from said supportting member; a bowl supported at its open side on said arms and extending downwardly therefrom; a rotating shaft axially positioned with "reference to said supporting member and extending within said .bowl; a second similarly contouredbowl carried by said shaft within said first bowl and in parallel spaced relation therewith; a plurallty of lamps projecting fromthe surface ofsaid second bowl and ada ted to shine through perforations in, said iirst bowl; and means for rotating said second bowl.

3. An electric light fixture comprising: a rigid vertical supporting member; arms .extending radially outward from said supporting member; a bowl supported atv its open side on said 'arms and extending downwardly therefrom; a rotating shaft axially positioned with reference to said supporting member and extending within said. bowl; a second similarly contoured bowl carried by said shaft within said first bowl and in parallel spaced relation therewith; a plurality of lamps projecting from the surface of said second bowl and adapted to shine through perforations "in said first jbowl; means for rotating said second bowl; and a peripheral flange formed around the open side of-one of said bowls so as to shield the 1spaife between said bowls from projecting In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature.

HARRY W. LAWRENCE.

as a shield to prevent the light from 

